Method for processing address of short message service center in imt-2000 asynchronous network

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method for processing an address of a short message service center in a WCDMA network, including: a load centralization confirmation step where an operation control unit receives short message processing states from each short message service center, confirms load centralization states of each short message service center, and generates an operation message; a path setup step where a mobile switching center receives a short message from a mobile station, and sets up a transmission path of the short message according to the operation message; and an optimal transmission step where the mobile switching center transmits the short message from the mobile station to the corresponding short message service center through the transmission path according to the result of the path setup step. When a lot of messages are centralized to a specific short message service center due to call habits of subscribers, some subscribers of the short message service center arc distributed to another short message service center, and thus service center reception ability is predictable. It is also possible to actively cope with civil appeals and troubles.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method for processing an address of ashort message service center in an IMT-2000 asynchronous network whichuses a mobile station ISDN (MSIDSN) as a short message service centeraddress stored in a mobile station defined in 3GPP for routing andsubscriber distribution of the short message service center in an UMTS(Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service) network, instead of using areal short message service center address.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, in 3GPP, when an MS (Mobile Station) transmits a shortmessage, the short message is transmitted to a corresponding SC (ServiceCenter) based on an SC address from the MS. Here, the SC address fromthe MS is a secret number of the SC. That is, the SC set up in the MSprocesses the message.

In this method, when an SMS (Short Message Service) provider and a corenetwork provider are different, subscribers can select the SMS provider.

Referring to FIG. 1, when an SC address is designated as an SC number,if an MS 10 transmits a short message, it is transmitted to anMSC/SGSN/VLR 20 with the SC address stored in the MS 10 (S100).

The MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 transmits a message MAP_MO_FORWARD_SHORT_MESSAGE toan SMSC (Short Message Service Center) 30 having the SC address (S102).Here, the transmitted SC address is the SC number, and the MSC/SGSN/VLR20 manages routing information of the corresponding SMSC 30 by SCnumbers.

The SMSC 30 processes the short message, and outputs a messageMAP_MO_FORWARD_SHORT_MESSAGE_CK to the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20. The MSC/SGSN/VLR20 outputs a short message response SHORT MESSAGE ACK to the MS 10 tonotify that the short message has been successfully processed (S102 andS103).

However, when the SMS provider and the core network provider areidentical, if the provider has a plurality of SC, a lot of messages maybe centralized in a specific SMSC according to call habits ofsubscribers as shown in FIG. 2. That is, when the SC address means thesecret number of the SC, the messages may not be evenly distributed tothe SMSC. There is no way of distributing some subscribers of one SMSCto another SMSC, and thus SC reception ability is not predictable. It isalso hard to actively cope with civil appeals and troubles.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for processingan address of a short message service center in an IMT-2000 asynchronousnetwork which can efficiently utilize the network by using a mobilestation ISDN as a mobile switching center address stored in a mobilestation defined in 3GPP for routing and subscriber distribution of theshort message service center, instead of using a real mobile switchingcenter address.

In order to achieve the above-described object of the invention, thereis provided a method for processing an address of a short messageservice center in a WCDMA network, including: a load centralizationconfirmation step where an operation control unit receives short messageprocessing states from each short message service center, confirms loadcentralization states of each short message service center, andgenerates an operation message; a path setup step where a mobileswitching center receives a short message from a mobile station, andsets up a transmission path of the short message according to theoperation message; and an optimal transmission step where the mobileswitching center transmits the short message from the mobile station tothe corresponding short message service center through the transmissionpath according to the result of the path setup step.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a conventional method for processing shortmessage service transmission;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram illustrating load centralization of ageneral short message service center;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a network structure forprocessing a short message service which the present invention can beapplied to;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a format of a destinationaddress transmitted to a mobile switching center in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method for processing short messageservice transmission in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram illustrating routing from the mobileswitching center to short message service centers based on MSIDSN inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram illustrating load concentration of theshort message service center in accordance with the present invention;and

FIG. 8 is an exemplary diagram illustrating routing for subscriberdistribution in load centralization in accordance with the presentinvention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A method for processing an address of a short message service center inan IMT-2000 asynchronous network in accordance with the presentinvention will now be described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a network structure forprocessing a short message service which the present invention can beapplied to.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the network structure is composed of an MS(Mobile Station) 10, an MSC/SGSN/VLR 20, a plurality of SMSC (ShortMessage Service Center) 30 linked to a plurality of MSC (MobileSwitching Center), HLR (Home Location Register), VMS/FMS (Voice MailSystem/Fax Mail System), IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and other SME(Short Message Entity), for providing a supplementary service forenabling mobile phone subscribers to transmit/receive short messages inthe form of characters, and an operation control unit 40 for outputtingan operation message to the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 and controlling variationsof a message transmission path according to real-time statistical dataof short message processing states of each SMSC 30.

The operation of the present invention will now be explained.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method for processing short messageservice transmission in accordance with the present invention.

As depicted in FIG. 5, when an SC address is an MSISDN, if the MS 10transmits a short message, it is transmitted to the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 withthe SC address stored in the MS 10 (S200). Here, the SC address isstored in an SIM (Subscriber Information Module) card of the MS 10. Whenthe subscriber transmits the short message, the SC address is includedin a DA (Destination Address) of RP (Release Protocol)-data, andtransmitted to the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 (S200). FIG. 4 shows a format of theDA.

As shown in FIG. 4, octet 1 denotes an intrinsic value of the DA(RP-data has IDs by parameters, and octet 1 shows an intrinsic ID of theRP-data), and octet 2 denotes a whole length of parameters. 1 ext ofoctet 3 always implies ‘1’, and type of number is generallyinternational, national or unknown. Real numbers are used from octet 4.

The MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 transmits a message MAP_MO_FORWARD_SHORT_MESSAGE tothe SMSC 30 having the corresponding SC address (S201). The SC addressis the MSISDN of the subscriber.

Here, the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 requires rooting information to decide whichSMSC 30 it should transmit the message to by using the MSISDN. Theoperation control unit 40 receives the short message processing statesfrom each SMSC 30 in the real time, and confirms load centralization ofeach SMSC (the SMSC processing a relatively small number of shortmessages is regarded as a minimum load centralization SMSC in the realtime). When the SMSC shows load centralization, the operation controlunit 40 transmits an operation message to the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 in orderto newly set up a short message transmission path to the minimum loadcentralization SMSC. Thus, the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 has transmission pathinformation (routing information).

The SMSC 30 processes the short message and outputs a messageMAP_MO_FORWARD_SHORT_MESSAGE_ACK to the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20. TheMSC/SGSN/VLR 20 outputs a short message response SHORT MESSAGE ACK tothe MS 10 to notify that the short message has been successfullyprocessed (S202 and S203).

Accordingly, when the SC address is the MSISDN, as shown in FIG. 6, thesubscribers can be efficiently distributed to the SMSC 30 according tooffice data operations of the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20. That is, when SMSC callattempts are not balanced due to call habits of the subscribers, loadcan be reduced by changing routing information of some subscribers ofthe SMSC 30 (for example, by prefixes).

For example, the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 performs SMSC routing by prefixes ofsubscribers as shown in FIG. 7. When load increases in SMSC1 due to callhabits of the subscribers, some of the prefixes routed to SMSC1 arecontrolled to be routed to SMSC3 as shown in FIG. 8. As a result, loadof SMSC1 is adjusted.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, itshould also be understood that the above-described embodiment is notlimited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unlessotherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within itsspirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore allchanges and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of theclaims, or equivalences of such metes and bounds are therefore intendedto be embraced by the appended claims.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, when a lot of messages are centralized to a specificSMSC due to call habits of subscribers, the method for providing theshort message service in the WCDMA network distributes some subscribersof the SMSC to another SMSC, and thus SC reception ability ispredictable. It is also possible to actively cope with civil appeals andtroubles.

1. In a method for processing a short message in a mobile communicationnetwork including a mobile switching center for switching calls, a shortmessage service center for providing a short message service, and anoperation control unit for operating and managing the short messageservice center, a method for processing an address of a short messageservice center in a WCDMA network, comprising: a load centralizationconfirmation step where the operation control unit receives shortmessage processing states from each short message service center,confirms load centralization states of each short message servicecenter, and generates an operation message; a path setup step where themobile switching center receives a short message from a mobile station,and sets up a transmission path of the short message according to theoperation message; and an optimal transmission step where the mobileswitching center transmits the short message from the mobile station tothe corresponding short message service center through the transmissionpath according to the result of the path setup step.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the load centralization confirmation step comprises astep where the operation control unit receives the short messageprocessing states from each short message service center, confirms aminimum load centralization short message service center according toreal-time statistical data, and transmits the operation message forrequesting path setup variations to the mobile switching center, so thatthe minimum load centralization short message service center can processnewly-transmitted short messages.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein, inthe path setup step, the mobile switching center sets up the shortmessage service center corresponding to address information included inthe operation message from the operation control unit as a minimum loadcentralization short message service center to set up the transmissionpath of the short message, and in the optimal transmission step, themobile switching center transmits the short message from the mobilestation to the minimum load centralization short message service centerthrough the transmission path.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein, in theload centralization confirmation step, the operation control unitdecides the short message service center processing a relatively smallnumber of short messages as the minimum load centralization shortmessage service center in the real time according to the short messageprocessing states from each short message service center.